AGRICULTURE WITH CHEMISTRY. 177 



the surface mould ; by which means not only the staple 

 will be deepened, but the soil will, by the admixture, be 

 rendered more compacl and close; whilst the spungy 

 inert vegetable matter contained therein will be decom- 

 posed, and brought into less volume by the action of the 

 lime. On these accounts, fallowing and liming consoli- 

 date a soil of this description, although they might at 

 first be considered to produce contrary effects* 



Whilst these, or other operations, are going forward, 

 for the purpose of making the infield land give out 

 either in grass, hay, or corn, the surplus proportion 

 of vegetable matter, the farmer should apply the greater 

 part of the dung made on his farm to his outfield land, 

 abolishing, as far as may be, the distinction formerly made. 



The former system of management, however much it may 

 now be disapproved of, and made a subject of reproach 

 to our ancestors, was nevertheless the only one suited ta 

 their means. At a remote period, there were neither a 

 sufficient number of men, horses, nor extent of capital, 

 in Scotland, to admit the adoption of a different system ;; 



z and 



